Jolly Old Spooky Nick
by Euphonemes
Summary: With a party fast approaching, Judy and Nick have a minor disagreement on what Halloween is supposed to be. In the process of their argument, Judy learns more about Nick than she had expected. Will Nick, lost in Christmas cheer a few months too early, get to wear his little hat? And will Judy put on the snowy white beard? Spooky propositions, indeed.


_Jolly Old Spooky Nick_

"... _outside the snow is falling, and friends are calling 'Yoo-hoooooo'…"_

Upon entering her ZPD precinct, Judy Hopps momentarily forgot it was October. She stumbled as she peeked up at the precinct's skylights, looking for snowflakes. When only sunlight shone down, she stopped dead in her tracks, perking up her ears, searching for the source of the Christmas tune.

" _...come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with youuuuu."_

She wheeled around to find one Nicholas Wilde merrily belting out the yuletide song. He had his feet up on their shared desk, singing into the donut around his finger. He finished his solo with a big chocolate-covered-with-sprinkles bite.

A part of her thought to leap onto the desk to deliver a proper scolding, but Judy settled for the armrest of their desk chair. "Nick, I just about fell over hearing Christmas music! Why are you singing that?"

He talked around another bite of his donut. "Just getting ready for tonight, Carrots."

After her head settled down from the surprise of Nick's song, she remembered the invitation to McHorn's house for a little shindig. But not a Christmas shindig, which had Judy puzzled. "You _are_ aware it's Halloween, right? A _Halloween_ party?"

"Mhm."

She planted her hands on her hips, a favorite stance when chatting with Nick. "And you're going as, what, Christmas?"

His devilish grin made Judy scowl. "Oh, Carrots, for an ace detective, you sure do miss a lot." After sneaking a few glances around the busy precinct, he pulled from the top drawer of their desk a floppy hat, shaped like a cone with a jingly bell on top. She wanted to know when Nick had hid that hat in there — surely she hadn't been missing it for _that_ long — but once she realized what kind of hat it was, her correction came first.

"Nick, foxes can't be elves."

"And rabbits can't be cops. But here we are."

He didn't miss a beat, and Judy was admittedly flummoxed. His donut was nearly gone before she thought of what to say. "That's not the point. Or...I guess that _is_ the point. Elves have long, floppy ears," she said while flicking her ear at him. "Everyone knows that."

"And the delusions of Bunnyburrow continue, tsk tsk." From the way he leaned toward her, she could tell he was going to enjoy _educating_ her. "Hate to break it to you, Fluff, but elves, they have pointed ears. Like so." He wiggled his very pointy ear to the great dismay of his bunny partner.

"No, they don't! They — wait a minute, why is this even an argument? A Christmas elf is not a Halloween costume!"

"And why not?"

She couldn't believe she'd need to explain this to him. "Cuz it's supposed to be a scary and spooky costume, Nick. That's the point of Halloween: to freak everyone out."

"And who said it wouldn't be scary?" She didn't like that particular grin of his. It had a glint to it that made her shudder. The sly fox had _something_ planned for her, and she was not eager to find out what it was.

And he would never give away his scheme, so Judy thought another approach might give her more information on what awaited her. "Well, we're supposed to go together! Who am I supposed to be, J-" The name caught in her throat, and Nick's face almost fell off, his grin was so wide. "Oh no, no, not gonna happen, Slick."

"Oh, come on, you'd make a great Jolly Old Nick."

Jolly Old Nick the Reindeer had a snowy white beard and drove a tractor with jingle bells on it, though Judy figured out later in life that the tractor had been an addition of her mother's to the legend. Still, Old Nick brought her all the best presents, so questioning his choice of vehicle was never anything young Judy did.

She admired Jolly Old Nick's joviality, how he brought smiles everywhere he went. Really, Judy aspired to be so generous with love and kindness. But, the thought of _portraying_ him had never crossed her mind. Just the idea of wearing a beard…she shuddered.

Somehow, though, Nick Wilde had a way of coaxing her into doing things. No doubt a skill practiced for years on the street, and one he had put to good use as a police officer these past two years. His enduring grin outlasted her stubbornness, and she dropped her head resignedly.

"...fine," she whispered.

He didn't even try to hide his surprise. "You'd go as Jolly Old Nick? Oh, Carrots, I've never been more proud."

Judy didn't share in his pride and kept her head bowed as she continued. "Just...when are we gonna leave for the party?"

Nick bounced out of the chair, likely on the path to the break room for yet another cup of coffee to wash down that donut. He planned as he walked by her. "Come by my place tonight, _before_ the party. We'll get ourselves prepared."

Immediately, a million questions on the details started to spill out of her. But Nick was already lost in his own preparations. " _The fire is sloooowly dying, but my dear, we're stiiiiill goodbying…_."

* * *

Warmed nutmeg and sugary sweetness greeted Judy as she opened Nick's apartment door, lugging a paper bag filled with the Jolly Old Nick costume she had borrowed from a Pangolin Arms neighbor. Her powerful nose traced the glorious scent to a cup on the table by his couch. More of a mug, really, and her hungry eyes watched steam curl off its lip.

Though he wasn't in the room, Nick must've read the silence. From what was probably his bedroom, he called out to her. "I'll be out in a minute. Mug of cocoa on the table for you. To help you get in character."

She resented that but stopped caring once she sipped the piping hot cocoa. Mom used to add cinnamon, and a young Judy had drunk gallons of the stuff. Nutmeg and...something else, she couldn't say what, made Nick's concoction a lip-smackingly good combination.

Between a couple old magazines and dog-eared books, there was a spot on the couch where Judy could nestle in. Cocoa in hand, she idly flipped through _Mammals_ , admiring the story about Gazelle's upbringing — her favorite holiday as a kid had been Halloween, according to the interview. In her head, Judy started calculating the dimensions of Gazelle's dress, wondering how it could be scaled down to a rabbit's size. She determined she could likely pull off that costume, though getting Nick to dress as a backup tiger dancer may have been a tougher sell. The thought left her as she laughed.

While the magazine was nice, she wanted something with more substance. Nick's choice of literature was okay, but none of the books stood out as worthy of a spare few minutes. In fact, the only thing that caught Judy's attention was a pleather-bound object with gold-embossed lettering. _Book of Memories._

"Aww, a photo album," Judy said to herself as she picked it up. It was hefty, and she could hear photographs and newspaper clippings shifting around as she turned the volume. Momentarily, she worried about opening it. Nick was a private mammal, despite his cheeky grins and witty banter. But Judy the Investigator knew her curiosity would win out, and after a few seconds more, her paw flipped it open.

He had mentioned her several times during their partnership, but seeing Nick's mother now made Judy gasp. She was a lovely fox, with kind eyes and a smile in every picture. Beneath her eyes, Judy noticed the bags, the draining exhaustion of raising Nick on her own. As young Nick aged in the photos, those bags became more pronounced, dragging her face down even as she fought back with bigger smiles.

Judy kept flipping and enjoyed the holiday memories captured on film. It seemed that Nick and his mom celebrated as much as they could, though the kitchen table was never full of food, and the presents under the thin Christmas tree were never too numerous. But there was love in each memory, and Judy smiled softly as she browsed Nick's life.

"I see you found it."

Lost in thought, Judy hadn't heard Nick close his bedroom door and pick his way between old pants and shirts scattered around the floor. His pointed ears cast long shadows over a picture of Nick and his mom at Halloween, at young Nick the Elf. Wide eyes popped up from the page as Judy worked to talk her way out of it. "Nick! I, um, was just…."

That made him laugh. "Not mad, Carrots. Though I figured you'd be nose deep in that copy of _Mammals_ instead."

Relieved, she chuckled and blushed as Nick scooped out a few of the books and plopped down next to Judy. He leaned in and, like a tour guide, brushed his paw across each page of the album, recounting the stories behind the pictures. The love Judy had seen in the photographs gleamed in Nick's eyes as he remembered wonderful times with his mom.

She had so many questions for Nick; she wanted to know everything. But she watched quietly, only building up the nerve as he went past the fourth Halloween photo with a Nick the Elf getting ready to trick-or-treat. "Nick, how many times have you gone as an elf for Halloween?"

He paused his review and sighed. "We never could afford much, you know. And that included Halloween costumes. I was an elf for...ooo, just about every year. Kids teased me, of course, but I stopped caring."

She nodded and peeked back at the album. Squinting, she looked closely at the hat Nick wore in his Halloween photos. And sure enough, the elf hat currently in Nick's hand was in each one. Smugness crept along her smile, and she leaned back while pointing at his hat. "And that thing has survived _every_ Halloween?"

His grip tightened around his hat, and he pulled it closer to his chest, almost from reflex. "Mom had a lot of different jobs. She was called _waitress_ quite a lot. One such gig was…." He waggled the pointy hat in his paw, and its little bell rang out. "That restaurant lasted all of six months. Guess mammals didn't want to _eat_ Christmas all year 'round."

In the waning light of the day filtering through his one window, Nick's smirk glinted golden. It felt warm, this look of his. Maybe that was the cocoa's doing, which Judy had greedily gulped down during Nick's tour of his young life. It encouraged her to be inquisitive.

"And you never went as anything else?"

He genuinely seemed shocked by her question. The hat's bell jingled as he gestured. "What else _would_ I go as?"

"Vampires?"

"Fake blood costs too much."

"Zombies?"

"Could never get the undead look just right...not for cheap, at least."

"Ghosts?"

"We weren't about to cut eyeholes in a perfectly fine bedsheet, Carrots."

"Okay, yeah...but now, you could go as...well, _whatever_. You have options, ya know."

She had brought her legs up to the couch, tucked herself into an energized ball of curiosity. Prying into Nick's past always set her buzzing. She wasn't out to expose him, nothing like that. Young Nick's history simply interested her, and she thrived on learning more about her partner.

But the way Nick fiddled with the hat's jingle bell told Judy she needed to pump her brakes. She spotted the wistfulness in his eyes as he smoothed the fabric between his paws. A memento, a keepsake from someone who had loved Nick dearly. She couldn't tell if his mom's scent was still attached to the hat's threads, if he could sniff it and disappear in a daydream with her.

While Nick had been reliving his past, Judy had pulled the fake beard from her bag, something to toy with. She now played with the white hairs as they sat in silence. She had tried on the beard before making her trip to Nick's, and given how itchy it had been, she wasn't eager to slap it on her face with a jolly old laugh to go along with it. And yet, as she sat with Nick, she stopped minding that itch.

Still, her curiosity nagged at her. And she _had_ to ask a question she had held onto for a long time. "Nick, your mom...I've never asked, but what, um, happened to her?"

She thought he might crush the hat, he went so rigid. The rabbit had struck a sore nerve, and Nick looked almost wounded when Judy asked. It wasn't anger, but something akin to...sadness, maybe. That look he had worn in the gondola long ago. The couch creaked as Nick started sliding off it, letting the question slide with him. Judy knew there would be no answer today and resigned to hopping off the couch, too.

Somehow, though, Nick dug up his grin and ribbed Judy once more before heading toward the door, keys twirling in his paw. "We're gonna be late. So get that snowy beard on, Jolly Old Nick."

* * *

McHorn's party was in full swing by the time they pulled up. Cobwebs from a spray can coated the windows of his modest townhouse on the very edge of Savannah Square. Several partygoers were enjoying the night sky from the lawn, and Judy and Nick — rather, Jolly Old Nick and his Christmas elf — picked their way through the small crowd and into the house.

Vampires and zombies and ghosts filled the tight rooms. Nick said _boo_ to a few mammals, joked with a few more, all while everyone stared at the yuletide partners traipsing in. Judy's self-consciousness flared, and she pulled Nick aside to a quieter corner of McHorn's pristine kitchen.

"Nick, we should change. I feel _dumb_."

And it was just Judy who was feeling dumb. She liked how Nick wore the elf cap, cocked slightly to the left, the little bell jingling as he shook his head.

"Carrots, you look _great_. Everyone's noticing!"

"B-but, that's…."

"A good thing." He leaned down and placed sure paws on her shoulders. "Everyone else is trying to be spooky and scary, and, ehhh, no one's really nailed it yet. Even Clawhauser dressing as Gazelle didn't get there."

Perhaps Benjamin had read the same _Mammals_ article as Judy had, or, more likely, his fanboy inspiration finally took him off the deep end. Clawhauser's bulging midriff had been far more than Judy had expected to see tonight, and, although whatever happened at the party stayed at the party per order of Chief Bogo, that memory would long stay with her.

Judy adjusted the beard and the fake-snow-glazed antlers that jutted out between and behind her ears. Jolly Old Nick's red jacket was _toasty_ in the busy house, and warmth and sweat were undoing the glue keeping everything together. Her temper heated a bit, too.

"But Nick, we're not spooky!" She toyed with a plastic jack-o-lantern yoinked from the kitchen counter, where Delgato and a rookie were enjoying each other's company. " _That's_ what Halloween is about. Frights and chills and thrills. Not snowy white beards and antlers!"

She hadn't meant to shout, even it was mostly to raise her voice above the music. Remembering their trip through young Nick's life, a fraction of her was worried that she would hurt Nick. But he smiled in that way he did when his scheme was coming to fruition. She nearly balked when he set aside her new jack-o-lantern and nabbed her paw. And yet, with a sigh, Judy acquiesced and followed Nick through a couple of hallways, toward the back of the townhouse.

"Not spooky enough, eh? I'll show you spooky…." Nick muttered to himself, but just loud enough for Judy's sensitive hearing to grab it. He couldn't stop the grin that was spreading, and Judy braced for some massive dose of terror. She hated clowns, though she couldn't remember if she told Nick that, and if he pulled out a red nose, she might just lose it.

But instead, he pulled her under an unassuming doorway and closed in on her. He dropped his voice low, grumbling and gruff as it mixed with the Halloween music's creepy bass. "You want spooky, Carrots?"

She let herself nod. And he pointed one paw up. "Then look."

In the dusky fog-machine twilight of the party, she almost missed it. But green leaves and white berries hung among the Halloween decorations that reeked of cheap plastic. He must have roped McHorn into his plan, as the frond was lovingly tacked into the doorframe.

"Mistletoe?" She gasped as she said it.

Nick got closer, and her jacket got warmer. "You and me under mistletoe, what's spookier than _that_?"

The beard was itchy, and she let it slide off her mouth, which was currently puckered with confusion and a tinge of horror. Nick was right; he spooked her well. They had been partners for two years, and, though she had to admit to an occasional fleeting bit of curiosity as to what Nick's lips tasted like, this was _very_ new.

Despite some welling concern, the rules of mistletoe were clear. And she wanted to wipe the grin off his face. After sticking the antlers tighter on her head, she wiggled and jumped and landed on Nick's folded forearms. In the instant of his surprise, she planted a wet kiss, lasting a little longer than she had expected. Maybe she enjoyed listening to that little bell jingle.

And when she pulled away, she caught his whisper. "Mmm, best present ever, Jolly Old Nick." But that whispered kindness disappeared quickly as he set her back down on the floor. And though a million questions popped into her head, Judy let him pull her back into the party. "Now come on, we have some Christmas cheer to spread!"

Nick really did make for a good Christmas elf. Tightening her warm jacket around her, Judy let her cheeky grin spread wide as they both sang Christmas carols to vampires and zombies and ghosts.

 _END_


End file.
